


The Way to his Heart

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 07:04:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16012772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Louisa invites a friend over for baking, at the suggestion of Willow. Viktor belongs to sso_viktor7.





	The Way to his Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sso_Viktor7](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sso_Viktor7/gifts).



Ever since breaking things off with her last large group of friends, Louisa had been hesitant to allow anyone else to set foot into her kitchen. It wasn't because of how that last baking session had turned out (though she'd had nightmares for days afterwards about melting green frosting dripping onto the floor and it had taken weeks to clean up all the mess), nor because she didn't want to share the cooking. It also wasn't because of her shyness (though that did play a major factor). It was actually for a sad reason, really, and one that Louisa tried not to dwell on too much. The truth was that she was scared of letting anyone in anymore. That was why she'd become a bit of a hermit then, other than hanging out with the small crowd at the Followers hideout. She just could never be sure when a friendship could turn sour, or when 'friends' could show their true colours and make her entire world come crashing down around her.

So it was very unusual, then, for Louisa to be welcoming someone into her father's house in Cape West Fishing Village.

"Come in," said Louisa, holding the door open after walking inside. The old door (which was probably made of driftwood, honestly) would shut on its own if she didn't hold it open. It had been her father's idea, to make things easier when he was leaving the house at an early hour with his arms full of fishing gear.

"This is probably the first time you've brought a boy home, huh?" said her new friend, stepping into the fishing hut. His bright yellow hoodie blended in perfectly with the other houses in the area and the golden leaves in the surrounding countryside, just... not so much in the house. In short, he stuck out like a sore thumb.

"No," said Louisa. "I've had guy friends before. One guy friend." And she went silent, trying to stop the rush of memories and associated feelings.

"Okay, I won't pry," said Viktor, moving to stand in the middle of the living room which made up the front room of the house. It was very open-plan, really, the kitchen just had a large doorway (with no door) and only the bedrooms and bathroom had doors on them. Everything was wooden, too, though there were a few fishing nets hung up with sea-themed decorations in them. "It smells fishy in here."

"Gee, I wonder why," said Louisa, glad for the distraction. She must've looked sad, she guessed. Which she usually did, when she thought about everything that had happened. But she tried not to think about it too much, otherwise she'd be sad all the time. And really, she just wanted to be the bright and happy one in the group, even if that wouldn't be the entire truth.

"It doesn't look like you live here," said Viktor, probably noticing the distinct absence of anything vaguely feminine.

"Yeah, I've been staying at Rania's," said Louisa. "I moved into Herman's when he needed someone to house sit, but now he's back and I didn't want to move back in with my dad."

"And he's okay with this?" asked Viktor. Louisa immediately felt like apologising for mentioning parents around the orphan, but stopped herself. She didn't want to draw attention to it, he'd probably be okay. He hadn't said anything yet, after all.

"Yeah, he's always happy to see me home," said Louisa. "And he said I can always come back."

"Must be nice," said Viktor. Louisa froze on her way to the kitchen.

"Sorry," said Louisa, turning to face him (even if she couldn't look him in the face).

"It's fine," said Viktor, shrugging. "Let's just do what we came here for?"

"Oh great, now you're resorting to innuendo to make me laugh, very funny," said Louisa, a feeling of happiness slowly replacing the awkwardness.

"No, I was- oh," said Viktor. "Geeze, no wonder I've heard some people call you 'sin mother'." But he was trying to fight a smile when Louisa looked at him. Good.

"It's a well-earned title," said Louisa, smoothing her hair back and picking up a hair tie to tie her hair back. She kept one in the kitchen all the time, to save the long walk back to the bathroom or her bedroom. "You should probably tie your hair back too."

"It's not that long," said Viktor, running a hand over his curly dark hair.

"Right," said Louisa, shaking her head. "I was thinking of the other curly-haired guy that usually hangs out with us."

"Yeah," said Viktor, looking away before he stepped over to the kitchen sink to wash his hands. "So what are we making?"

"Depends," said Louisa as she opened the doors to the pantry. "Are we just cooking for fun or for someone in particular?" She glanced at him, a smile tugging at her lips. Viktor blushed.

"No," said Viktor. "Definitely not, not cooking for anyone but myself. Only I forgot the extra special ingredient."

"No pot in this house," said Louisa. "It's a no-smoking house. Would be no booze, too, but dad drinks. Pot, though? No thanks."

"Damn," said Viktor. "So no pot brownies, gotcha."

"We can do cookies or some other baked goods instead, though," said Louisa. "Share them with the group. How does that sound?"

"Yeah, that sounds great," said Viktor, nodding absently. Louisa grinned and got the flour and other cookie and brownie ingredients out of the cupboard.

"Now, I'll be keeping an eye on you anyway," said Louisa. "Just to make sure you don't slip something in. That's why Evergray isn't allowed to bring food for the Followers anymore."

"That's a story," said Viktor, raising an eyebrow.

"We all got very high," said Louisa. "Not fun. I got so dizzy, it sucked."

"Maybe you just had a bad reaction," said Viktor, shrugging.

"Yeah, maybe," said Louisa. She grabbed a cookbook down from the shelf, opening it to the section on cookies. "Let's get baking." A sudden memory flashed through her mind, a snatch of a memetic song, but she squashed it. She was making new memories with a new friend now.

It had actually been Willow's idea, for the two bakers of the group (not to be confused with the girl who had the surname Baker) to have a cooking session together.

"It's something you have in common," she'd said. "You bake, Viktor bakes, you're perfect gay little housewives."

"Yes, bake for us," Daine had said, nodding. Louisa remembered how Viktor's face had lit up when Daine had said that, as though he would do anything to please his friend. Hmm.

"Sorry if I'm being quiet," said Louisa. "I'd put music on but we probably don't have the same taste in music."

"Do you like twenty-one Pilots?" asked Viktor.

"No," said Louisa, shaking her head.

"Then no, we don't," said Viktor, but he didn't sound mean. Just like he was making an observation.

"You're the first Puerto-Rican I've ever met," said Louisa, trying to fill the dead air.

"And you're the first Australian I've ever met," said Viktor. More observations. Louisa chewed on her bottom lip as she focused on stirring together the cookie mixture. She had to make conversation somehow. But how?

"Not to sound like a typical girl but who do you like?" asked Louisa. "Unless it's a secret?" She looked up, hoping that she wasn't being too forward. Viktor had frozen, but he didn't look upset or anything.

"It is a secret," said Viktor. "Really."

"Hey, it's fine," said Louisa. "I've known friends who like Darko and Justin, and of course we have Ydris." She made a vague gesture that almost made Viktor laugh.

"It's not one of them," said Viktor. "Obviously not Ydris." He shuddered.

"At least you have good taste, then," said Louisa. "Not that I'm throwing shade on Isabella and Daine or anything, but..." She hoped that nobody took offense to her referring to Isabella with her full name. There were just... too many memories associated with her nickname.

"They deserve to have shade thrown," said Viktor. "For having bad taste in men." Louisa laughed. "Not that I can talk, I had a Darko phase once."

"Hasn't everyone into guys?" asked Louisa, rolling her eyes. "Same with- a certain other guy." She knew better than to mention Alonso around Viktor. The two had a bad past, she still didn't feel entirely comfortable around the ranger since learning that.

"Yeah," said Viktor. He went silent, and Louisa searched frantically for something, anything else to say.

"Is it Daine?" Louisa finally asked, the question coming unbidden to her lips.

"No!" said Viktor, too loudly and too quickly. He looked at Louisa, looking like a deer in headlights. Hoping that she wasn't about to ruin everything again, Louisa grinned.

"Sure it isn't," said Louisa, smirking. "I might not talk much, but I notice things. And I know when a friend is into another friend."

"I'm not," said Viktor, picking up a small handful of flour and tossing it at her. "I don't like him, why would I like him, he's with that stupid magician and he's just a good friend to me." Louisa wiped flour off her glasses, still smiling.

"I think you do like him," said Louisa, picking up her own handful of flour to toss. It landed right on the front of Viktor's sweatshirt.

"No I don't," said Viktor, tossing another handful of flour.

"You do," said Louisa, grinning now despite the flour on her face. The flour fight continued in this fashion for several minutes, flour flying to the tune of 'you like him' 'no I don't'.

At last, the amount of flour in the air sent both of them into sneezing fits, causing a ceasefire and truce.

"Alright, fine," said Viktor, his hair turned prematurely grey from the flour. "Maybe I do like him, so what?"

"Aww," Louisa cooed, trying to find a clean cloth to clean her glasses on.

"Here," said Viktor, pulling up his sweatshirt and giving Louisa his t-shirt for glasses-cleaning.

"Thanks," said Louisa, glad once she could see again. "That's so cute!"

"No it isn't," said Viktor, looking away from her. "It's lame and embarrassing. And why would he ever like me back? I'm stuck in unrequited hell and it sucks."

"He does care about you, though," said Louisa.

"Not in the way I want," said Viktor, folding his arms over his chest and leaning against the cupboard. "But that should be enough but it isn't. I'm so selfish."

"You're the complete opposite of selfish," said Louisa. "Granted, I've only known you for a few days but you seem like a pretty nice guy. And trust me, I've known assholes. You might have a temper but you're not one of them. I wouldn't have let you into my house if you were."

"Thanks," said Viktor. "I guess. I just sometimes feel like people don't like me."

"But they do like you!" said Louisa. "They went into Pandoria to save you. I know I didn't but that's because I didn't trust them then. Which sounds even worse, if you ask me."

"It's hard to trust people," said Viktor. "You think you love someone and then..." He sighed sadly.

"Yeah," said Louisa. "I get it. I mean, I can't speak from experience, but it's hurt to trust again after you've lost that trust."

"And then there's me, going and getting hurt again by falling in love with someone who's taken by my mortal enemy," said Viktor.

"You can't help who you love," said Louisa.

"And now here I am, ranting to a relative stranger about all this," said Viktor. "Some start to a friendship, huh? We're supposed to be baking and here I am, venting."

"I could vent too," said Louisa. "But I don't want to burden you with my problems. They seem petty in comparison to yours. Not that you're burdening me or anything, just... yeah."

"I've had a pretty shitty life, if I vented all my problems to you, I'd be here all week and then you'd need therapy," said Viktor.

"Good point," said Louisa. "I might not be the best to vent to, but I can cheer you up with baking. Speaking of, let's get these cookies in the oven before we forget all about them."

"Out of curiosity," said Viktor once the cookies were in, "do you know what food Daine likes?"

"We should ask him," said Louisa, surveying the floury mess of the kitchen. "I'm not looking forward to cleaning this up."

"Yeah, I should go," said Viktor, edging towards the kitchen doorway.

"Oh no, you don't," said Louisa, grabbing his sleeve and pulling him back towards her. The flour fight had left her feeling braver than she usually would around new people. "You helped make this mess, now you can help me clean it up."

"Ugh, fine," said Viktor, rolling his eyes and grabbing a cloth from the sink.

"We've gotta do something while we wait for them to cook anyway," said Louisa, shrugging.

"How did you know it was Daine, anyhow?" asked Viktor.

"Just the way you act around him and look at him sometimes," said Louisa. "Your denial was all the proof I needed."

"Dammit," said Viktor. "Just don't tell him, okay? Willow didn't tell, so please don't tell him?"

"My lips are sealed," said Louisa. "I didn't know Willow knew, though. How'd she find out?"

"She got a new phone so I sent her my contacts and Daine was kind of underFlameoHotman," said Viktor, rushing the last few words. Louisa didn't laugh. Barely.

"That's kind of adorable," said Louisa, unable to stop herself from grinning.

"No it's not, it's embarrassing," said Viktor. "Who calls people that in their phones?"

"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, Lisa is My Star in my phone," said Louisa. "Besides, it's better than Daddy." Viktor laughed.

"Okay, yeah, it is better than that," said Viktor.

It took a while, but finally, the kitchen was cleaned and the cookies were cooling on the kitchen table.

"I don't think those cookies will last very long," said Viktor, looking at the two trays.

"Well, we can't really make more because we used all the flour," said Louisa. A glimmer of amusement came into her eyes. "But maybe you could take a basket to Daine. Just as a friendly gift."

"I dunno," said Viktor, looking down at the table. He looked up again. "Should I?"

"Yes," said Louisa, nodding. "You definitely should."

"Okay," said Viktor. "Do you have a container to put them in?" He started opening cupboard doors.

"Try them first," said Louisa, sitting down at the kitchen table and picking up a cookie. It was delicious, of course.

"Okay but save the best ones for Daine," said Viktor, sitting down opposite her. Louisa smiled.

"I hope you realise that now I'm going to tease you about him at any given opportunity," said Louisa. "Just as long as it doesn't make you too uncomfortable or anything."

"I'll let you know if it gets too much," said Viktor. "Too bad I can't tease you about anyone."

"I'm sure you'll find something to tease me about," said Louisa. "Just as long as it's only friendly teasing."

"I may be a dick sometimes but not to my friends," said Viktor.

"Good," said Louisa, taking another cookie. "Let's talk about something else now."

"Can I talk about Daine?" asked Viktor. Louisa grinned around her cookie, nodding. Because hearing people gush about the one they loved was completely and utterly adorable.


End file.
